Long Form

‘I missed a dose for the first time’: How the KZN floods derailed HIV...

The April 2022 floods in KwaZulu-Natal, left Mfundo Shezi without HIV treatment for two weeks. He had no way of getting more because the centre he frequents was closed for two weeks – and his ID book was washed away.
Eleven-month-old Akalapatan Kebo

Gasping for breath: Pneumonia’s deadly toll

A disease that claims the lives of two children under five a minute worldwide has hit drought-stricken Kenya hard, its spread driven by malnutrition.

The cost of caring: Zithulele’s Ben Gaunt, one year later

In 2022, after a decade of service, Ben Gaunt, who led a team who transformed Zithulele Hospital in the Eastern Cape from a struggling public health facility into a poster child of excellence, left the facility. The drama, which followed the appointment of a controversial CEO, was well publicised. We spoke to Gaunt one year later.
Meita Maine

Analysis: Why policy is failing community health workers

Community workers are twiddling their thumbs while the state drags its heels on a new strategy, writes Mia Malan.
Intuitive: Josephine Masedi is a self-taught midwife

Allay the dangers of maternity by honouring rural custom

Many women consult traditional healers, so it makes sense to enlist these cultural leaders in public health education.
The youngest daughter of Samantha Benjamin* is HIV positive because her mother didn’t seek medical help.

Ignoring prenatal HIV care leads to a lifelong burden

Mothers blame themselves and their children can never give up their antiretrovirals.
In 2013 the psychology’s bible

When the sorrow doesn’t end: Could chronic grief be a medical condition?

The pain of bereavement is supposed to ease with time. When it doesn't, psychiatrists call it 'complicated grief' and it can be treated.
Toeing the line: The children at the Johannesburg Autism School need an organised and constant schedule at school to provide them with a stable

The ABCs of autism in the classroom: ‘He only wants to eat sandwiches with...

Autistic children experience the world differently, but this doesn’t stop them from learning.
Zimbabwean doctors went on strike in February for more money and more posts. In 2008

How to fund a failing health system

Could Zimbabwe's new Health Development Fund rescue the country's cash-strapped clinics and hospitals?

‘Where the governments see statistics, I see the faces of my friends’

Yvette Raphael describes herself as a ‘professional protester, sjambok feminist and hater of trash’. Government officials would likely refer to her as ‘a rebel’. She’s fought for equality her entire life, she says. And she’s scared of no one.
We feature three HIV positive women in their 40s who fit the profile of a typical M&G reader.

HIV: Not one of us can say, ‘never me, never mine’

We feature four HIV positive women in their 40s who fit the profile of a typical M&G reader.
Yvette Mbayo-Ndaya has high blood pressure

Refugees ripped off at state hospitals

Poor people who have fled their countries are expected to pay steep rates for treatment at government hospitals in Gauteng.
Lesotho netcare hospital

Why the public-private partnership to build Lesotho’s only specialist hospital floundered

It was hailed as a revolution in private investment in healthcare in Africa but almost a decade after it was opened, Lesotho’s only specialist hospital takes up almost a third of the country’s entire health budget. Now, we may finally know why.
Ebola has flared up again in the Democratic Republic of Congo

After Ebola: What happens when the virus fades and the NGOs — and money...

Ebola wiped out nearly 10% of Liberia’s doctors and nurses. Take a look at life for those it left behind.

A mezuzah, a Christmas wreath & rooibos with milk: Get to know this NICD...

Anne von Gottberg and Cheryl Cohen are two of South Africa’s foremost scientists. We’ve got them and their colleagues to thank for the country’s world class surveillance of SARS-CoV-2. But this powerful duo are also experts on how to bridge divides — and married.
Bridging the gap: Pupils at the Emerald Hill School for the Deaf learning sign language. The majority of deaf people in Zimbabwe reportedly cannot read or write.

Hospitals introduce sign language to bridge gap between the deaf and care

Some hospitals are introducing sign language to help deaf patients.